I was encouraged by a friend to begin a study of part of Ephesians 6. I decided to share it here as I go along. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to read it for yourself first. Let’s jump right in.
Why armor? This is indeed a battle, though verse 12 quantifies it. It’s not a physical battle; it’s mostly a spiritual battle, but maybe also partly a mental one. Not necessarily that I can will myself to fight (but I do have some responsibility, says 1 Cor. 9:27), but our minds can be a playground for temptation.
The purpose of this armor is to be able to withstand the onslaught of Satan. The King James Version uses the word “wiles”, or schemes. Those are perhaps the most dangerous kinds of attacks because a scheme is meant to deceive. The blatant attacks don’t surprise us. Our armor protects us, but we see those coming a mile away. It’s the schemes we don’t necessarily see and need to pay special attention to guarding against.
One important thing to note before going further is it’s not our own strength in which we stand. Paul, in verse 10, tells us to “be strong in he Lord, and in the power of His might.” The only way we can really be successful in fighting Satan’s schemes is to be standing firm on the Rock and relying on His strength to see us through.
-j
I'm Jason, and I like to write.
Actually, I think that you’ll find the armor (armour?) of God is not for withstanding the attacks of Satan, it’s for attacking him. One of the biggest problems we face as Christians is the tendency to be reactive rather than proactive in our spirituality. We think that it is good enough to simply survive while here on earth; God expects us to charge Satan, to go on the offensive for God! If the armor were only for survival, we wouldn’t have been given a sword, or sandals, or a breastplate. The sandals help us to run TO a fight, not just away from it, and if we weren’t to be engaging the enemy, the shield of faith would be enough to cover us – the breastplate is for when we’re in battle, swinging away and getting up close and in the face of the enemy.
Sorry, I rambled again.
I haven’t gotten that far yet. Notice the “Part 1″ in the subject. Stop being so quick to speak!
But I definitely agree with the idea that we tend to be reactive instead of proactive. I sort of think that’s why our churches don’t grow like some others do.